Implantable medical devices (IMD's) including electronic circuitry and battery elements require a housing to contain and hermetically seal these elements within a body of a patient. Many of these IMD's include electrical feedthroughs to provide electrical connection between the elements contained within the housing and components of the IMD external to the housing, for example sensors and/or electrodes mounted on an exterior surface or electrical contacts housed in a connector module, which is mounted on the housing to provide coupling for medical electrical leads.
Feedthrough assemblies typically include a ferrule, which is coupled to a side wall of the IMD housing, and a conductive pin extending through an insulator that is mounted within the ferrule. The insulator electrically isolates the pin from the ferrule and is sealed to the ferrule and the pin. Some feedthrough assemblies further include a capacitive element to provide high frequency filtering for the pin.
Many IMD's require a plurality of feedthroughs, and, in some cases, one of more of the plurality of feedthroughs are subject to performance requirements that differ from the rest of the feedthroughs. Thus, there is a need for feedthrough assembly components and methods that facilitate the incorporation of a plurality of feedthroughs.